Improving Your Health at Work!

The average British person spends a grand total of 99,117 hours of their life at work according to recent government statistics this is equivalent to 11 and a half years of solid slog. With this in mind we need to be conscious of improving your health whilst at work. Use the tips, tricks and advice below to not only improve your physical health, but also your mental health:

1. Swapping Sweet Treats for Healthy Alternatives

Those appetising unhealthy snacks that your colleagues so nicely place on their desk can add a few hundred calories to your daily diet if you're not careful and they can help pile on those unwanted pounds.

When feeling a little peckish, it is recommended to take a break, drink some water and skip those chocolatey treats. If you are hungry snack on a healthy alternative.

Service Care Solutions Managing Director Richard Freye is keen to promote healthy eating for the workplace and has signed up to a rapidly growing trend in the UK offering baskets of fresh fruit twice a week.

http://www.fruitfuloffice.co.uk/

Here at SCS we couldn’t recommend this enough!

2. Drink more H20

It's so easily overlooked, but choosing healthier drinks is a key part of maintaining a balanced diet, health authorities commonly recommend that we should drink 3.7 litres (15 cups) of water per day.

Many soft drinks, energy drinks and fruit juices are high in sugar and therefore high in calories, it takes no scientist to explain to us having too many calories can make you more likely to not only gain weight but also cause peaks and troughs in concentration levels – not a productive workforce!

Avoid the caffeine, fizzy drinks and cordials to increase concentration and drink more H20.

One of the most important aspects of maintaining your health is to exercise. Now we all know it might not be practical to spend your lunch hour in the gym or doing burpees and star jumps in the work canteen! However it’s the simple activities maintained, that can make a difference;

Walk! Take a short walk on your lunch break or park further away from work so you have a short walk in the morning and evening – you will burn calories, de-stress and also may save on parking and petrol costs, win, win!
Make a habit of using the stairs and avoid taking the lift or escalators, take regular breaks when working at a desk, this will also decrease circulation issues in your legs.

4. Lunch Time
Eating a healthy lunch is an important part of any balanced diet, not just in the workplace.

Sometimes convenience food seems the most practical option when at work but pre-packed sandwiches and pasta’s for example may shock you on the hidden calories and saturated fats– prepare a packed lunch! Preparing a sandwich or salad at home gives you the power to determine a healthy alternative. Furthermore, be more self-conscious on portion sizes and practice reduced portion control! This is more prominent with sedentary job roles such as office based work as you are less likely to burn off the number of calories a labourer for example would burn on a standard day at work – don’t overindulge!

5. Catch it, Bin it, Kill it!

Your keyboard, mouse, and phone can harbour thousands of nasty germs that are just waiting to make you poorly.

Virus’ can remain infectious for hours to days on hard surfaces and can be easily transferred from person to person especially in air conditioned environments. Let’s not start on the toilet doors!

So stock up on the disinfectant and “Catch it! Bin it! Kill it!” according to the 2015 government campaign.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/flu-levels-continue-to-rise

6. “We’re all going on a summer holiday, no more working for a week or two!”

Finally, the best health tip we all want to hear is that holidays are an important aspect of staying healthy at work!

It is more beneficial than you think to take a holiday, recharge your batteries, relax and have some fun.

Holidays help reduce any unwanted stress you have at work! Stress itself can affect your immune system increasing the risk or illness.